


Trust

by Ariejul



Category: Fallout - Fandom, Fallout 4
Genre: Deacon Lies, Distrust, Gen, Hatred, Lying Hurts Everyone, Mental Anguish, Nobody Wins, Pain, Sole Survivor Hurts, Sole Survivor Lies, Spoilers for Fallout 4, unnamed sole survivor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 18:54:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11065059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariejul/pseuds/Ariejul
Summary: You can't trust everyone. Live that long enough, and it becomes you can't trust anyone. Every action has consequences.A potential ending.





	Trust

_You can’t trust everyone._  

 

It’s the first lesson of his she remembers. The one that probably hurts the most. She knew he was a liar, but that was the first time he’d ever done it quite so casually to her. _I’m a Synth._ And she believed him. Took his code. Refused to read it for nearly a _month._  

The anger, the betrayal she felt. It opened a rift in her heart that she realizes later never fully healed. She never believed another word he said. Not about the Deathclaws. Not even about Barbara. She doubts the woman ever existed. Not that it even matters. None of it does, and it will all be over soon. 

She believes in what the Railroad does. Truly. Synths should not be made to suffer at the hands of uncaring masters. She’s met enough of them to know they aren’t _just_ machines. But she can’t forgive the way they make her lie to her own son and pretend that it’s justified. The son she fought to live for, the son she believed gone forever. 

The son who is dying right before her eyes and offering her his kingdom. 

She accepts it, and everything that that acceptance means. 

She knew Shaun would ask her to destroy the Railroad. They are a threat, the enemy, and her involvement with them is not so great a secret that her son does not know. Even so, standing over Desdemonda’s sleeping form, intent heavy in her heart, she knows she wasn’t prepared. Not really. 

She makes sure it ends quickly, all the same. Ironic, that she would use the silenced pistol Deacon gave her – _a show of good faith –_ to do the deed. The others are just as easy. Glory is gone on a mission, and everyone’s asleep. All she has to do is make sure they never wake up. It’s odd, how little she feels with each squeeze of the trigger. They would all likely die by uncaring Institute hands anyway. Better here. Better now. Better her. 

Glory is harder, but she knows where the heavy is. It’s an easy thing, to snipe her from afar. She never knew what hit her. She tells herself it’s better, this way. 

Deacon is in Sanctuary. She left him there on purpose, hoping the news wouldn’t reach his ears before she could. A part of her wishes it hadn’t come to this, that she could have _trusted_ him, but she’s not stupid enough to think it could have ended any other way. Someone was going to die by her hand. Better strangers than her own son. 

She finds him on the outskirts and feels overwhelming relief. It’ll be less messy here. The liar knows something is wrong the moment he sees her. She was never as talented as him, not at his own game. 

“What did you do?” His voice is hard, angry in a way she’s never heard, but also incredibly heartsick. 

“What I had to.” Her voice sounds off, even to her own ears. She wonders, absently, what Deacon would do if she let him live. Would he kill her? Where would he go? He certainly wouldn’t stay. She toys with that possibility, paying the vaguest attention to him. Most of his words are meaningless, anyway. 

“Why? We trusted you!” _I brought you in, you sold us out._ _I’ll never forgive you. Murderer. Thief. Blasphemer._ A thousand words he doesn’t say, could never say. She hears them and suppresses the urge to remind him _You can’t trust everyone._ _Not even me._  

She sees the tinge of despair on his face and feels a twisted sense of joy. He betrayed her first, after all. She’s just returning the favor. Was it the right choice? She doesn’t know. Doesn’t think there _was_ a right one. She fell asleep and the world went to hell. Might as well go right along with it. The Railroad needed her, not the other way round. 

“He’s my son,” she whispers, lifting Tommy Whispers’ Deliverer and shoots. Deacon’s head snaps almost comically back, and he crumples to the ground, an unmoving heap.

 

She looks down at his broken form, glasses shattered, and feels nothing.

**Author's Note:**

> This was easier to write than I expected. 
> 
> I want to start off saying that Deacon is my favorite character in Fallout 4, and I usually play the Railroad ending. Mainly because it feels the _most_ right. He is a liar, though, and that along with all the deceit in the Railroad story line could definitely rub the SS the wrong way. They ask more of her than is honestly fair, without really giving much back. I wanted to explore what might happen.
> 
> This is un-beta'd, so please point out any errors. Please comment if you enjoyed.


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